Jalen Duren’s Emergence Will Be Expensive for Red-Hot Pistons

The Pistons sit atop the Eastern Conference with a 15–2 record, including 13 consecutive wins. But their unprecedented success is going to come at a steep price.

Cade Cunningham is unquestionably the team’s best player, and the Pistons already locked him into a five-year, $269 million rookie max extension that runs until the 2029–30 season. Jalen Duren has emerged as Cunningham’s sidekick this year with averages of 20.3 points and 11.5 rebounds on 67% from the field through the first month.

Duren is poised to make his first NBA All-Star Game and is the early-season favorite to win Most Improved Player.

But he does not have a long-term contract after failing to agree to a contract extension with the Pistons this past summer. Duren will enter restricted free agency this offseason.

Duren’s camp was seeking a deal worth “well north” of $30 million per year this past offseason, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line. If Duren sustains his play through the remainder of the season, he will likely get his wish.

A $30 million per year deal is similar to NBA centers like Jarrett Allen ($30.2 million), Isaiah Hartenstein ($29 million), and Myles Turner ($27.2 million). Among those names, only Allen has made an All-Star team, though Hartenstein and Turner were the starting centers in last year’s NBA Finals. Duren, who turned 22 last week, is at least five years younger than those players.

Two suitable comparisons for Duren’s next contract are Rockets center Alperen Şengün and Thunder big Chet Holmgren.  

Şengün was also 22 years old when he signed a five-year, $185 million extension ($37.5 million per year) in October 2024. Unlike Duren, Şengün locked in a rookie-scale extension instead of testing restricted free agency the following offseason. 

But Şengün was already coming off a breakout campaign and showcased All-Star potential the year before he signed his extension. In the 2023–24 season, he averaged 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 5 assists. 

Duren was not Detroit’s second or even third option last year. He averaged 11.8 points and 10.3 rebounds.

Holmgren, 23, signed a five-year max deal worth as much as $250 million ($50 million per year) in July. The No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft struggled to stay healthy in the regular season last year, but was an integral part of the Thunder’s championship run.

With the Pistons currently sitting atop the East, a deep postseason run isn’t out of the question. Depending on how far the Pistons go, Duren’s deal could approach the max, which could shoot past $50 million next year as the salary cap rises.

Fortunately for the Pistons, they have one of the lowest payrolls in the NBA. Detroit has $131 million on the books for next season and is projected to have more than $30 million in cap space next year. 

Much of that flexibility will likely go toward paying Duren, along with a potential extension for Ausar Thompson and a new deal for guard Jaden Ivey, who will also be a restricted free agent next summer.